Category: Minutes

Attendance

• Board Members:  Sandia Slaby, Sherry Chilcutt, Luke & Whitney Bowerman, Roberta Golden, Nathan Allan, Jenni Fleming, Andrew & Katy Beattie, Rob Campbell, & Bev Kooi

Previous Meeting Minutes

Read and ratified June General Meeting Minutes

Garage Sale

Second annual ENA simultaneous garage sale. Lee Bickle, coordinator, reported where she’d advertised (MIXX 96, KAOS, & KGY radio, Olympia Power & Light Newspaper). Sandia did not report this at the meeting, but she put an ad in the July issue of Works In Progress.

20 homes are participating

Discussion of sign placement & agreement that balloons would be purchased to place on signs. Two sandwich boards that Mitch made are available & decision made to place.

Summer Picnic

Saturday, August 16, at Lions Park, 11-2

Confirmation of provided foods: dogs & burgers & condiments with BYO potluck or side dishes & desserts & beverages; discussion & agreement about food & shopping & who would do what about them.

Luke announced that a post card-size announcements would be printed but that mailing it was prohibitive, thus he’d be contacting Ruth to clarify the delivery routes for the newsletter delivery over the last decade +. On the announcement, it was decided, would also be a statement to encourage membership & how to pay for that.

Decision was made to suggest folks attending to bring an item to donate to the Thurston County Food Bank, as it was reported that the summer is a time that contributions are scarce.

Community Garden

Roberta opened the discussion expressing interest in there being a community garden in our neighborhood that would include more of a community building component, possibility supported or sponsored & maybe ‘housed’ by one of the churches. She cited the efforts she has seen at the one in the north eastside neighborhood area – the Capital Vision Christian Church. Nathan reported his historical experience with others on the ENA Board having interest to create such a garden in the Eastside 2-5 years ago at the old Madison Scenic Park property. He spoke of one big draw back being the lack of water access at that site, the city’s level of interest & support being minimal, and that there had been conflict among Board members during that time that was not helpful in moving that idea forward. Luke commented that he thought there was not enough energy in our ENA Board to spearhead such a project without other identified & active partners. Sandia mentioned that the Avanti School, with their interest in agriculture, might be one such partner if this idea were to get moving again. Roberta reported her experience over the last 4-5 years at the 13th Ave. & Central St. community garden & invited board members to go over there after this meeting, as it was only on block away, for a tour (which three of us did).

Business cards for Board members

Bev offered to make these for each member on her computer if there was interest. A few members welcomed them, one stated it would be nice to have them by the neighborhood picnic in August.  Bev asked that whomever would like cards to get your contact info (phone, email, whatever) to her.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30.

Attendance

• Board Members: Nathan Alan, Luke Bowerman, Whitney Bowerman,  Sherry Chilcutt, Sandia Slaby, Andrew Beattie, Roberta Golden,  Bev Kooi, Nancy Thompson, Mitch Dennis, Pat Bayle, Jennie Fleming
• Neighborhood Residents: Domenico Spatola-Knoll, Katie _?_, Karen Rogers
• Other Guests: Mike Voltz

Previous Meeting Minutes

Read and ratified March General Meeting Minutes

May Quarterly General Membership Meeting & Dinner

Join your neighbors for dinner!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 5:30PM until 7:00PM;  location confirmed:
New Bridge Community Church,  810 Central (at the corner of 10th & Central)
ENA will provide hot dogs & veggie dogs & fixin’s, & please bring a side dishes or dessert to share – potluck.  The church will open their cafe & offer complimentary coffee & italian sodas.

Meeting Agenda:

• Introduction & ENA 2013 Projects (15 minutes)

• Individual Disaster Preparation (15 minutes) by Sandia Slaby & Paul Peck & Cedar Boya from the NORTH Eastside  Neighborhood and:

• Smith Building / Family Shelter & Affordable Housing Project at 8th & Pear St., across from the OLD City Hall, (15 minutes) by  Coalition of Neighborhood Association representative.

• Introduction & ENA 2013 Projects (15 minutes)

ENA Garage Sale

Saturday July  20, 2013,  9-4 pm

Advertising  will be published on/in free locations including Craig’s List, WIP (Works In Progress),  OP&L (Olympia Power & Light), the city Website,  &  KAOS radio’s “community billboard”.  Households that are participating by having a sale that day are asked/encouraged to put up signs at major intersections near your home with the likes of:  “NEIGHBORHOOD Garage Sale – (with your address on them)” ,  and consider also having another sign AT your home saying sales are happening all around the ENA region – maybe with a map showing the boundaries of our ENA,  to prompt people to drive around.   Call Lee for more info & questions 943-1538.

Sidewalk Cleaning/Clearing Project

Further discussion was had re: proposal by Luke last month (to pick 5-10 of the most overgrown sidewalk locations in the neighborhood & spend a morning clearing them up).  A call for a Project Coordinator for this idea, but no one came forward for such.  It was suggested that we could use already established “Newsletter delivery routes” for an initial survey of possible candidate sites for this project, whereby volunteers would take one or more of those ‘routes’/areas and scout for sidewalk areas that are overgrown.  If anyone interested in coordinating such a  project, sooner or later, please contact Luke, ENA president.

Also discussed re: this project was the importance of getting an “ok” for any adjacent property owner before any such clearing occurred, & the issuing of a standard letter clearly stating our work would be a one-time neighborhood volunteer effort.

Though this was not in the scope of the initial proposal for this project, Bev Kooi expressed that in the fall, due to slippery leaves, is a time she could use help keeping her sidewalk strip clear on the 7th Ave hill (east of central).  This showed  how this proposed ‘project’ could possibly expand as we explore one idea of the neighborhood helping neighbors

Online Dues

Online dues paying update given by Luke:  He said that he & Nathan are  going to  write up a ‘Statement’:    “what your dues $$ pays for in our neighborhood?”, to present at the next board meeting  to help people understand why they are encouraged to pay dues to support the activities of the ENA, and to address some board member’s query of what we would do with the $$ if we raised the annual ENA dues amount, which was proposed at the last meeting & tabled.

Other Business

ENA Postcard

Luke presented a sample of the postcard that we agreed last month to send to by US Mail to all residents of the ENA addressing yearly events, etc.  He said they would try to get the boundaries of such a mailing that would best cover, but not exceed our ENA boundaries, but that it will not match precisely, as USPS can not delineate mailings by such criteria.

Sandwich Boards

Making some of these to use around the neighborhood to announce ENA meetings/events has been discussed numerous times over the years, and Mitch Dennis offered & will make a few before the May General Mtg.  Sandia said she could provide some hardware for that project.

Parks & Pathways Proposals

Brad Archibold reported that he submitted them  & that the city is to meet in the next week to review progress & budget on the current projects, and that that review will result in data about available funds for further projects, thus  “Stay tuned”!

ENA Bank Account

The ENA is removing Jenni Fleming and Nathan Allan from being the responsible parties  for the Eastside Neighborhood Association’s WSECU account (number 109001742212),  and placing Sherry Chilcutt (Treasurer), and Luke Bowerman (President) as the new responsible parties.  That transfer will officially take place at the banking institution in the next week.

Name Tags

Sandia proposed we get reusable name tags so we can learn one another’s names more easily  Following some discussion, it was suggested and agreed that Sandia will assess the price & present that info to the board as a purchase proposal that can be addressed via email soon, so we will have them before the May General Meeting.  We will also get single-use ones so everyone attending meetings can have a name tag.

Mike Voltz

Mike Voltz, who is running for City Council, introduced himself & asked to be scheduled for some time to address us at one of our meetings before the election primary in Aug. Luke agreed that we would make that possible.

Announcements

Whitney announced that the Madison/Avanti Garden plant sale is Saturday, May 11, 2013.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30

Minutes by Sandia Slaby, Secretary

 

Attendance

• Board members: Luke Bowerman, Sherry Chilcutt, Sandia Slaby, Nathan Allen, Whitney Bowerman, Katie Beatie, Bev Kooi, Nancy Thompson, Mitch Dennis, Pat Bayle, Brad Archibold Bev Kooi
• Neighborhood Residents: Kara Randall, and Domenico Spatola-Knoll

Previous Meeting Minutes

Read and ratified February General Meeting Minutes

Parks & Pathways Proposal

Brad Archbold presented a proposal he wants to submit to the City’s Parks & Pathways program as a project for our neighborhood. It proposes putting in a walking trail, as a small connector of the thoroughfare, starting at the west end of 13th Ave past Boundary St., along City right-of-way, to Eastside St., nearby the Puget Sound Blood Center.

An idea  was proposed for a second project – a connector trail on 11th Ave, connecting McCormick & Central.

The motion to support these two proposals to the City passed unanimously.

2013 Garage Sale

Lee Bickle, Garage Sale coordinator was not able to attend the March meeting but later confirmed by email that date for the Neighborhood Garage Sale will July 20.

2013 Summer Picnic

Date chosen was August 24 (changed to August 17 during April board meeting)

Disaster Preparedness

Sandia Slaby reported that the county’s “Training-the-Trainers Workshop,” related to Disaster Preparedness (specifically about “Mapping your Neighborhood”), that occurred on March 13th in the North East Neighborhood was attended by two ENA members. Both volunteered to be the first two “block captains” in the Eastside neighborhood. This role involves convening a get-together at their homes for those residents who live on their block to watch a 90 minute interactive video together. Those residents then begin organizing to work together in the event of a disaster. The county provides the video & literature for these gatherings. Anyone with questions about the “Mapping Your Neighborhood” program, or who is specifically interested to know more about becoming a block captain or getting this started on your block, contact Sandia at (360) 866-4561. The intent of this county-wide effort is to get residents organized with their direct neighbors for help & work that can prevent injury & death, when first responders (fire, police, medical) are overwhelmed by the disaster.

Neighborhood Outreach & Communication

Improving Neighborhood Outreach & Communication

The ultimate goal is to have more folks join the ENA to support & be more active in our neighborhood.

Board and Membership Meetings

A calendar has been published on the ENA website of 2013 monthly board meetings and general membership meetings & events.

May General Meeting / Early Summer Picnic

After a discussion a motion was passed to hold the May general meeting as a neighborhood gathering / potluck format. The start time will be earlier – 5:30 or 6 pm, as opposed to the usual 7 pm. The hope is that this will make it more feasible for families with young children to attend. Date and location will be finalized shortly.

Sidewalk clean-up day

Work to identify locations (aiming for ~10) where the sidewalk is over-grown with vegetation. From there the project would include contacting the adjacent property owner to discuss ENA members clearing vegetation, organizing to do such work & to coordinate with the city to collect the debris, etc. Luke agreed to take the lead on this sidewalk cleaning project.

Discussion ensued about recent work the City did at Madison Scenic Park including fixing trail & handrail, clearing much of the blackberries, putting in bollards, & planting new low maintenance native vegetation. City Parks planner Jonathan Turlove has been in charge of this particular project. If anyone is interested in anything further being developed at this park, please contact Whitney Bowerman at [email protected].

Newsletter

Discussion ensued questioning the value & effectiveness of our current ‘Newsletter approach’ to reaching neighborhood members. The newsletters are currently distributed by hand, a time-consuming task for volunteers. It would cost ~ $400 to bulk mail the current newsletter to all residents of ENA area, whereas it would cost ~ $200 to mail a postcard. After much discussion, a motion passed unanimously to spend ~$200 doing one trial ‘postcard’ bulk mailing to everyone in the ENA area, in lieu of the next quarterly newsletter. The postcard will include calendar of all 2013 events & meetings, a link to ENA website for more info, request for feedback, etc., The ultimate goal is to have more folks join the ENA to support & be more active in our neighborhood. Luke will create the first postcard & have it ready to view at the April Board meeting. Some discussion on how to measure the effects of such a mailing occurred & further discussion was tabled for the April meeting.

ENA Web Site vs. “Nextdoor”

Luke cited that the ENA website is a public site, i.e. anyone can view it. ENA bylaws require that meeting agendas and minutes be published publicly and the web site accomplishes that whereas Nextdoor, a closed network, does not. Nextdoor.com is accessible only to those who live within the neighborhood. We have control ownership & control of the ENA site & all the information on it. We do not have control or ownership of Nextdoor web site (Nextdoor is privately held company).

Bev Kooi brought up the issue of whether the churches & businesses in our neighborhood could post on Nextdoor. She brought up an example of how she’d like to post the Easter week schedule of events at the Methodist church. She said they were hesitant to post themselves, wondering if it would be appropriate, not wanting to be seen as proselytizing. Luke promptly said they could send any announcement to him & he’d post it. Sandia asked why they couldn’t just post themselves, and Whitney said they might not know how but if they felt comfortable posting they were welcome to do so and that would be preferable. The churches are members of the neighborhood and have all been invited to become members of Nextdoor.

Online Payment of Membership Dues

Luke suggested we create a way for members to pay their dues online with credit card, suggesting they may get paid more regularly. The motion was passed unanimously.
Membership dues

Luke to suggested that it might be worth increasing the dues a small amount to $12/year. The dues have been $10 for at least 10 years (perhaps significantly longer?).

Some discussion occurred, including questioning what the increase would fund, if we needed it, etc. The decision for both was tabled until April meeting.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm

Attendance

• Board Members:
  • Nancy Thompson (President)
  • Jennie Fleming (Treasurer)
  • Brad Archibold
  • Andrew Beattie
  • Sandia Slaby
  • Roberta Golden
• 20+ neighborhood members in attendance
  • Tom Nogler,  Whitney & Luke Bowerman, Joe Hanna, Brad Archibold, LaRay Armstrong, Bev Kooi, Andrew Beattie, Katy Beattie, Nathan Allan, Sherry Chilcutt, Mitch Dennis, Pat Doyle, Terry & Ruth Middlebrook, Ann Mataczinzki

Treasurer’s Report by Jenni Fleming

Savings	$528
Neighborhood Signs Savings	$1295
Legion Way Trees Fund	$150
Community Beautification (from PSE Green Neighbors program)	$504
Checking	$445
13 Month CD (Matures on 4/20/13)	$1026
Total	$3948

Association Officer Elections

The President explained that there are currently 7 board members who have completed their two year term, & 4 who have one more year remaining in their term. She added that our Bylaws require there be a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 board members.  The President asked for volunteers to step forward to re-up or join the board.

The following people were elected: Luke Bowerman, Bev Kooi, Katy Beattie, Nathan Allan, Sherry Chilcutt, Mitch Dennis, Pat Doyle

President:  Luke Bowerman volunteered & was elected with no objections
Treasurer:  Sherry Chilcutt volunteered & was elected with no objections
Secretary:  Sandia Slaby volunteered & was elected with no objections

Eastside Community Garden

Roberta Golden brought to our attention that the gardens need more people to be involved. There are plots available for $50 per growing season, which includes water & membership to Sustainable South Sound (and with that, a “Buy Local” coupon book). Plots are 20’ x 20’.  The gardens are on the south side of 13th Ave S.E., just west of Central St S.E..  Contact Jennifer for more info at  (360) 481-4235 or [email protected].

City’s Trail Connectivity grants

Brad Archbold explained the status of this City program. The neighborhood association has previously been awarded funds for the Fairview walk-through trail (that project was not completed). He said there would possibly additional funds available for next year. If anyone has any ideas for creating such trails in our neighborhood they should bring those to the ENA Board’s attention.

2nd Annual Garage sale

Lee announced that she will coordinate the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Garage sale and suggested the 3rd week of July, to be after Lake Fair. The ENA will take care of advertising and will frame it as a ‘BIG Neighborhood’ sale.  Call Lee at (360) 943-1538 or email at  [email protected]  for more info. There was a discussion about the benefits to doing this the week of Lake Fair – a westside neighborhood has done this successfully for years.

Annual Picnic

Early or mid-August was mentioned for the ENA Annual Picnic. Nancy Thompson confirmed that she will continue to organize this event.

“Mapping Your Neighborhood”

Sandia Slaby announced that the North Eastside Neighborhood Association (NENA) is hosting a “Map Your Neighborhood” event at Roosevelt Elementary School on Wednesday, March 13th, 6:30-8:00 pm.

The event will be a review of the video called “Mapping Your Neighborhood,” which the county provides to anyone who wants to be a “block captain” or “trainer.”  This person’s role is to facilitate a small population (their own city block of households – a maximum of 1015 households) getting together at the “captain’s” home to watch the same video. This helps the block residents get familiar with their neighbors, and get organized and prepared to work more effectively together for increased health and safety reasons in the event of a disaster.  This is when our regular emergency responders (fire, medical & police) are overwhelmed by the numbers in need of help, when our neighbors may either need or be the best source of help available more quickly. For more information about these events email Sandia at [email protected] or call her at (360) 866-4561.

Presentations by Concerned Eastside Neighbors & the Medela Development Group

Representatives of the group Concerned Eastside Neighbors (Joe Hanna & Teresa __?) and LaRay Armstrong of the Medela Development group gave extensive presentations, including an update about the current and historical facts regarding these 9+ acres of property (including 2-4 residences). The area is bordered on the north side by the Forest Grove Cemetery, on the the east side by Chambers Street, and on the south side by the freeway. The Medela group has applied to the county for a rezone for greater density.

The Medela group said they had not been able to sell their property and were advised that there would be more interest if the zoning was for greater density housing.  The Concerned Eastside Neighbors group, a group of about 7 neighbors near the property, appealed the county’s decision to accept the re-zone application.  The group claimed the city had been in err with the decision. The appeal was denied and the rezone for greater density in that area has been passed. It will go into effect once the County Commissioner’s formally adopt the rezone sometime this year, no later than December 31.

For more info from the neighbors’ perspective, email them at [email protected].  The group intends to stay organized and hopefully grow and to be prepared to challenge any actual development that begins to take form when and if the property sells. From their research, they believe they have solid ground upon which to challenge many development projects that would be proposed for a more densely-zoned property.

The CEN group is very interested in more people getting on board now, in order to be better prepared for what seems now like inevitable happenings in the future.  They believe that any major development will affect our neighborhood significantly.

The Medela development group is a small family of siblings who are in or near retirement.  “We want to sell the property… we grew up there… but I  [the one resident landlord] can no longer maintain the land or dwellings that are part of the property…  and we are all three [sisters & brothers] older & want to retire and move on with our lives.”

The meeting came to a close at 8:50 pm.

Attendance

Nancy Thompson, Board Member and President
Brad Archbold, Board Member
Andrew Beattie, Board Member

Neighborhood members

Representatives of the Concerned Citizens with the Medela Development
Mike Carney
Whitney and Luke Bowerman

Board Members

We need Board Members, hopefully at least 6 new or renewing members. We can seek board members at the February Annual meeting.

February Annual Meeting

The February Annual meeting is scheduled for Wednesday February 20th, at the Knox Facility at 7:00 PM in the Boardroom. The room is reserved for that date and time.

A Newsletter will be distributed in advance of the meeting as notification of the Annual meeting. Ruth Middlebrook will provide the distribution of the newsletter. She needs the printed copies by February1, 2013. All articles need to be to Nancy Thompson no later than January 25th at: [email protected].

Officer Positions

All the Officer positions will be vacant.
Jennie Fleming does not want to continue as Treasurer.
Nancy Thompson does not want a second term as President.
No other Officer positions are currently filled.

Other Business

Joe Hannah, a representative of neighbors who are concerned about the Medela Development, asked to present their concerns with the project and discuss impacts to the Eastside Neighborhood at the Annual meeting. They will provide Nancy Thompson an article for the newsletter. They will also invite a representative of the Medela Development.

Brad Archbold discussed grants available with the City of Olympia for trail connectivity. He asked about any trail that could be available for the grant money. We did mention the Fairview Pathway as a possible recipient. Brad will provide Nancy a paragraph for the upcoming newsletter about the City’s Grants.

Meeting came to a close.